"One can't rule out the involvement of a foreign power," said India's junior home minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, using language commonly understood to refer to Pakistan.
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| Series of bomb blasts kill at least 80 in India |
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Jaiswal refused to say if he was talking about Pakistan. But he suggested the bombings were connected to previous attacks on India, saying that "the blasts are part of a big conspiracy."
Indian authorities have blamed Pakistan-based Islamic extremist groups for a spate of bombings that have killed nearly 400 people in this predominantly Hindu country of 1.1 billion people since 2005. Pakistan, an overwhelmingly Muslim country, denies any role in the bombings.
The attacks have ranged from July 2006 train bombings that killed nearly 200 people in Mumbai, India's financial center, to small blasts like the one that struck a Muslim shrine in Rajasthan last year, killing two people.
Each new bombing has brought fears of a new outbreak of violence between Hindus and Muslims, which has sporadically bled India throughout its history. Authorities appealed for calm after Tuesday's attack.
Authorities quickly ordered alerts in New Delhi, Mumbai and several other cities. Security was also stepped up at airports and railway stations across the country.
In Washington, the U.S. government condemned the attack.
Jaipur is one of the major attractions in Rajasthan, a desert region dotted with palaces and temples that draw hundreds of thousands of Indians and foreigners every year, from bargain-hunting backpackers to celebrities like Mick Jagger.
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